The 1 percent tip

Whenever I start to daydream about going into the restaurant business, I seem to witness a situation like the one I did on Friday night. The fantasy withers and vanishes for months.

At an upscale restaurant a party of 14 medical students — well-dressed, well-spoken, obviously moneyed — was 45 minutes late for their reservation, originally made for prime dinner hour on Friday night. Multiple tables that could have held other parties instead sat empty from well before the reservation time until they finally showed up.

The dinner, a birthday party, seemed to be going well, with happy chatter and food devoured. The group lingered, meaning things were still in full swing when the valet’s shift ended; they wound up staying another 75 minutes beyond that. As normally happens when customers stay late, at this restaurant and others in the area, the valet moved their cars to the front of the restaurant and delivered the keys. I’m told by staff that no other customer has ever complained about this practice.

Some time later, a member of the group left the table to approach the owner, who was standing about two feet from me at the bar. I could hear every word, but, as I wasn’t taking notes, the dialogue is from memory.

In an extremely polite manner, including repeated references to the owner as “sir,” the young man said the food and service were “excellent” but he had a complaint about what the valet had done.

“I think it was rude and extremely unprofessional,” he said. ”We eat in fine restaurants all the time, and we have never had our keys brought to us in the middle of the meal. It just isn’t done. You should schedule the valet to be here until the last diner has left.” The customer also said the valet’s arrival at the table had interrupted the birthday toast, a contention later disputed by the restaurant’s general manager, who witnessed the key exchange. The GM said the valet, recognizing the moment, stood back, waited for the toast to finish and then delivered the keys.

The owner, equally polite and measured in his tone, apologized, saying the valet’s end-of-shift practice had previously not bothered any diners. The customer said he expected something to be taken off the bill for their inconvenience and “rude treatment.” The owner excused himself to consult with the GM, thinking that perhaps his impulse to say “Absolutely not” might be wrong. The GM agreed with the owner and noted that if the group had been on time, the valet situation might not have come up at all.

The owner returned, went to the table, apologized again but said they had decided not to take anything off the bill, as there had been no problem with food or service and, in his opinion, the valet had done nothing wrong. The owner returned to the bar. The young man came over again.

“What you just did was extremely rude and unprofessional,” he said, still even-toned and polite. “When I came to you, I was away from the table, but you came back to the table and were extremely rude and unprofessional to me in front of my friends. You should not have come to the table to tell us you weren’t going to compensate us for being rudely treated. You embarrassed me in front of my friends. I think that was extremely rude and unprofessional. We’re good customers, we spend a lot of money and tip well, and we don’t expect or appreciate that kind of treatment. I think you should come back to the table, apologize to me in front of my friends and take your behavior into account on the bill.”

The owner refused. Things got worse from there:

A woman asked that her filet mignon be taken off the bill, saying it was “too spicy” for her to eat. The owner pointed out the filet was gone. She said, “Oh, my friend had to eat it for me because it was so spicy.” The owner said, “If you’d sent it back we would have made you a new one or given you something else on the house, but you never said anything, and the filet was eaten.”

Two young women followed the owner to the front desk and told him that his “extreme rudeness” to their friend should entitle the party to a discount.

All 14 demanded separate checks.

One person, whose bill came to $59.20, left $60 total — a tip of 80 cents, or 1.1 percent.

Another left a few coins.

At least one left no tip at all.

Average tip: 7 percent.

Waitress’ total take for serving a party of 14 for three hours: $20.

The owner, whom I see as blameless throughout, is convinced the incident was a coordinated attempt, perhaps even planned in advance, to scam the restaurant, to get away with paying less. I thought they came across as privileged jerks with misplaced senses of superiority and entitlement. Regardless, they were infuriating. And no amount of politeness and polish can disguise the fact that their low-tip screwing of the waitress was truly low-class.

There are cheapskates everywhere. My wife was a waitress for years in upscale restaurants and she has so many stories of how people would try to get discounts or try to get out of paying a portion of the bill. A classic is the person who conveniently forgets to sign the credit card receipt just to get out of the tip. They know that the bill has been paid regardless of signing it, however, they know a tip can not be added without the customers consent. Of course they remembered to grab the credit card though.

What else would you expect from privileged, self serving rich kids. This group I’m sure will be the ones that will drop, fail or get kicked out of medical school for the very same attitude that they portrayed in the restaurant. If the owner or GM knows where they attend school he should write a letter to the dean of student affairs about this behavior, they would LOVE to know about it. Even if you don’t have names, The school will remind the student body in general of how they should behave at ALL times. The behavior portrayed is a breech of their hippocratic oath. Not only are they taking an oath to act ethically towards their patients, but in all life matters . It’s so sad that young adults have to be reminded of how to act, but medical schools take this behavior VERY SERIOUSLY. Can you imagine these spoiled brats ever having a proper bedside manner? Our healthcare system is failing in many ways – financially as well as ethically. I would definitely alert the local medical school of this behavior. Believe me, it will not be tolerated and can be cause for disciplinary action.

All the fake politeness adds insult to injury–as if the diners had exquisite manners. I agree—these future doctors will be horrors in terms of their arrogance and sense of entitlement. Bring on socialized medicine. Karma indeed!

That is just disgusting. If you had no problem with the service who are you to stiff the person who just took care of an entire 14 person table by themselves and probably had other parties to attend to as well?

Truly a nightmare, yet all too common. Typical, most of these scammers try to wear down managment and if that doesn’t work they either cut the bill or short the tip. I even had an experience where someone had cut their bill and left a 2 page note explaining why they did it.

Marylee—you’ve got to be kidding. Medical schools do not act “in loco parentis” to med students and nobody would be disciplined for failing to tip. If part of medical training was to teach basic manners (in one’s personal life–which this was), we wouldn’t have so many jerk off doctors.

While I wasn’t there, nor have I been present at a similar incident, I can’t see why one would think the actions were premeditated. I think it’s more likely that after the events unfolded the diners discussed the situation amongst themselves and came to the mutual decision to tip poorly to make up for it.

But were they being despicably self-righteous with an egregious sense of entitlement? Absolutely. The valet did nothing wrong, and I saw it as a nice touch that he personally delivered each set of keys rather than, for example, leaving them in a pile near the door under the watchful eye of another staff member.

Pardon the generalization, but perhaps working long hours in a career that comes with such high demands on time and life they forgot that the valet had his own life and family to tend to, rather than sit around waiting to bring their cars.

I guess this is why so many restaurants charge a mandatory tip from groups (but that’s a whole other dicsussion). At least the group’s ‘ambassador’ maintained a polite tone and attempted to come to an agreement in a civil matter before leaving the restaurant.

In a situation like this, would the owner or manager help out the wait staff financially? I can’t imagine sending them home saying “tough luck, oh and can you work a double shift next weekend?”

This is why it is not true that the customer is always right. I’m glad that the owner did not reduce their bill. Imagine what Gordon Ramsay would have said! He’d probably call them a bunch of “T” words.

Sorry chrisck, if a group representing the medical school, which they are because they are students there, are acting inappropriately, which they were, that was downright Stupid and immature of the girl asking for them to take off the price of her meal AFTER someone ate it! How brainless is that! That’s right up there and is as laughable as the jerk going back to Mc Donalds trying to get his $$ back because the Happy Meal failed to make him happy. She wants to be trusted with a human life? That’s beyond laughable. The resturant has every right to report and let the college be aware of the inappropriateness of these kids. The business is losing money, the economy is already seeping disaster on the industry. The whole situation was downright harassment by the students, not just failing to tip. It is not a matter of parenting but proper adult behavior REPRESENTING the Medical School and community

How would these soon to be doctors feel if one or more of their patients refused to pay their bill because the patient(s) had a medical condition that required surgery, surgery was recommended and successfully completed but the condition was not cured?

Sounds like an attempt at upscale “chew and screw”. Or, perhaps more simply a common phenomenon among Docs – God complex. I’d live a rogues gallery of names and photos to stay the hell away from this lot when and if they actually become practicing physicians.

They didn’t refuse to pay though, they demanded a discount and then voiced their displeasure by not tipping. Stupid move by them since it seems that their meal was good, and all the concerns were over things that had nothing to do with the waitstaff, but tipping is optional. Some people just don’t tip. The owner should just rerun all of their credit cards – I’m sure one or two of them will not notice.

Marylee, the students don’t “represent” the medical school while acting in their personal life any more than you “represent” your employer when arguing with your husband or taking out your trash 3 hours earlier than the town prefers. We all act for ourselves and represent only ourselves or possibly the upbringing our parents provided.
As for these people being good doctors, I have no idea if they will be. I have no idea is my doctor is a total a$$hat to wait staff or other service providers. He is a very good doctor and that is what counts to me.
As to the situation, these people are not “kids” they are adults in their 20′s if they are in med school. Not all med students are “rich” but in most cases they are very smart and because of that they have generally been accomodated and spoiled.
Showing up so late on a busy night was rude at the start, esp if no call was made in advance. The “host” of the group did maintain a reasonable tone at first and didn’t create a scene. Maybe he did so because he knew he really was in the wrong here. It does sound like once he returned to the table to air his complaint, the others piled on in an attempt to create as ‘disastrous evening” for which they felt a discount was in order. Clearly, had the night been a mess from the go, the owner or GM should have been made aware.
What is sad is that the person who will pay for it is the person that waited on them and got $20 for their trouble. A good friend of mine used to work at the track over the summer, waiting tables on the 3rd floor of the clubhouse. The place is a logistical nightmare and tables are crammed in tight and customers are all there for the entire day. Many times she served very high powered people (politicos, lawyers, people with local and national fame etc) and received almost no tip. Once an aide to a well known pol told her that having the priviledge of serving MR X was compensation enough! She asked if the aide was paid or if serving MR X was compensation enough for the aide???!!!

This could have all been avoided, the restaurant should never have held the tables. When they showed up 45 minutes late, they should have been told that the table was not held. Does a airline hold a flight because you are late ?? Does a golf course hold your tee time if you are late ?? NO. Late for a Doctors appointment or forget an appointment, they charge you. A Restaurant should be no different. Have some manners and get to your reservation on time or risk having no table. I understand a 10-15 minute window, but 45 minutes is ridiculous. The restaurant should never have seated them. Hopefully, the restaurant didn’t turn people away while waiting for this group.

After waitressing and bartending for 10 years in a variety of places, I can say sometimes high scale restaurants and their customers are harder to deal with than a hole-in-the wall bar with the occasional fight. I would rather serve someone dollar drafts all night and go away with a $5 tip, but be treated respectfully, than work all night and get treated as if I am beneath them. I feel bad for the server…they said the service was great. She was the one whom was punished in this instance and obviously did nothing wrong. I hope the manager or GM compensated her for it one way or another.

Regardless of their profession of choice, they could have acted like human beings. The waitress didn’t do anything to deserve not being tipped. What a joke, people like that shouldn’t leave their house.

The answer is simple. Take their pictures, distribute to as many establishments as you can.

Also, I would not have agreed to 14 separate checks. If you want separate checks, you tell us at the beginning of the meal, not after you’ve made a reservation and sat together for three hours. Sounds like someone is used to getting his meals at a discount for being a prick.

Ellsass, most of the time the Manager’s hands are tied when it comes to helping the waitstaff make up for cheap customers. Unless the GM is also the owner, and even then, it would be a surprise to have your manager hand you cash. This city has a lot of great people and tippers, and I have been lucky enough to have many of them as wonderful guests. However, as a part of the “ME” generation, I have to say I don’t think it is age that determines a person’s etiquette in general… a lot of it is how they are brought up, karma is a b—h !

The students should be ashamed for being late and using every excuse in the book to get a discount… but I have to agree that bringing their car keys to the table is pretty rude. It’s like they are being asked to leave NOW. Not cool to do to a table of 14 people who probably just spent close to $1000 on dinner.

The restaurant that I work in would never allow a valet person to bring anything to a table that is seated. Yhe valet driver would bring the keys, with the cars tag, to the host or manager on duty and that person would either get the car or give the keys to the customer.
That having been said, the customers that were described, are mot the norm, but are part of a group of customers known as, “pre-programmed sstiffs”. They knew before they came in that they were going to creat some situation that would result in a discount. Had they received a discount, they still would have stiffed the waitress. I agree that seperate checks should not have been agreed to if it was not pre=arranged for a party that large. At the point that they asked for seperate checks the management should have realized that these geeks were going to be stiffs, and should have refused the request for seperate checks.
It is unfotrunate that the servers are always the people who get penalized for peoblems that they have no control over. The house gets the check paid, and the kitchen workers still get there pay. Most houses pay their front house staff the minimum wage, which is $4.60 per hour. Perhaps that is why the art of being a “waiter” is soon to be extinct and the professioon is all but gone.

I agree with the idea of reporting them to the school. Students of high-profile private schools would be reprimanded. These arrogant jerks need to be taken down a peg or two. Wait until they find out that doctors don’t make a lot of money anymore. May their malpractice premiums go through the roof! There are no loopholes to the Law of Karma.

#31, this is far from the norm…servers make far far far more than the 4.60/hr..It is very rare that the house makes money and the kitchen staff makes money but the servers don’t. Please… it’s quite the other way around…servers are usually the highest paid per hour in a restaurant. They are able to make the money they do BECAUSE the kitchen staff is doing their job, the chefs are doing their job and the owners have provided an environment for them to do so….I’m sure the kitchen staff and house would trade paychecks with a server anyday of the week, even with an unfortunate incident like this, I’m sure the server made more hourly than other position in this restaurant that evening (excluding the chef).

I feel sorry for the workers and the restaurant for having to deal with those customers. Restaurants/bars should share lists of people that do this so other establishments don’t have to deal with theses bad customers. Like a black list. I would at least not allow them back into that restaurant.

I have a different take on this than most. It sounds like they were genuinely upset that the keys were delivered to the table. I agree with scarffister that is probably not appropriate at a high end place. I also envision the valet standing by the table during the toast while everyone notices and wonders who he is and why he is waiting for the toast to end – rather than listening to the toast. I also agree that that after leaving the table to talk to the management the guest may have been very embarrassed or uncomfortable when the manager gave his response in front of the whole table. It sounds like the guest was polite at all times, and the escalation of these problems truly could have ruined whatever special occasion they were celebrating.
Like most of us I have been in a situation where I am tempted to tip less due to a problem not of the fault of the waitstaff, I generally don’t because I have been on the other end, but still most people aren’t going to tip 20% on a dinner that they believe was ruined, even is service was excellent.
The tip certainly should have been much better, the checks shouldn’t have been allowed to be split, and I wouldn’t have held the table absent a good reason, but I understand the frustration on the guests part and the over-reaction by some of them by not tipping. Steve may have picked up on a vibe by his being there, But I am highly doubtful of a coordinated attempt by 14 people to scam the restaurant out of part of their bill. For a party of 14 the manager might have realized that the guest was genuinely upset at the valet situation and apologized and offered some small gesture. It might have saved the waitstaff a big chunk of change and kept 14 people from having a bad experience.

Oh, please, these 14 soon-to-be professionals were 45 minutes late. Without the courtesy of a phone call. Must we continue to discuss the “politeness” of the guest? To punish the server financially, after complimenting the food and service, due to a ridiculous issue with the valet is absurd. If this guest were truly concerned about having this oh so sensitive discussion in front of his dining companions, he would have broached the topic with the restaurant at a future date – perhaps a telephone call the following day. I was there when this party finally arrived and their needs were more than taken care of. Give me a break.

If you tip less, you are only punishing the waiter/waitress. These people were rude from the get-go by being late. If these “medical students” get all upset because they got their keys at the table, then they don’t have what it takes to be a real doctor in a crisis. They sound like 14 people who deserve a lot of bad experiences in life.

Yes, they were. Someone in the restaurant with a relative who’s a medical doctor had an extended chat with members of the group about their studies. I witnessed the conversation.

Also, any sympathy I might have had for the “embarrassed” young man vanished as a result of the way he was willing to spread dissent throughout his group; the result was an average tip of 7 percent. And you’ll note that at least four separate members of the party — the original complainer, the woman with the filet, the two women who went to the hostess stand to find the owner — were part of trying to get discounts. It wasn’t just one “embarrassed” guy discreetly bringing a problem to management’s attention. Multiple people tried repeatedly.

OK, one comment about realism for people like Chris V that don’t get it. A guy needs to end his shift and the policy is to drop off the extra keys to the customers. How the hell does that RUIN your whole dining experience to the point where you take it out on all of the rest of the staff? It doesn’t RUIN your birthday. it doesn’t RUIN your food. It doesn’t RUIN your service. Do you honestly believe that IF the valet had stayed until they were ready to go that they would have tipped him $5 or $10 per car for his trouble? And then tipped the waitress properly too? From their actions I highly doubt it. OOHHHHH, my whole day was RUINED because some bad man gave me my car keys after moving my car to the front of the building! What a crock of $%#*. These brats knew what they were doing and it was just a game to them.

obviously this is a situation that is very touchy. anytime a server gets screwed out of a tip by something in the restaurant they can’t control, it’s a shame. i would LOVE to hear a version from the medical kids stand point. it seems like this situation was given to us from only Steves/owners view and that’s probably the only one Steve has available at this time.

i doubt the restaurant in question was very busy, or they would have definitely cancelled the reservation after 30 minutes in order to maximize their business that night. because they didn’t, it’s no fault of the medical students, nor is it that they stayed “late.”

i do think the restaurant was at fault for the valet version of the event also. any “high end” (does having valet constitute this?:)establishment should have their valet remain until the restaurant is closed. while the valet didn’t actually interrupt the toast, i think the story speaks for itself that the valet was tableside like a guy waiting for the national anthem to end so he can run to his seat.

what the kids did that left “change” as a tip is horrible, and while they think they are screwing the owner, it’s pretty simple to figure out that the server (who by all accounts did a good job) is the one getting the short end of the stick. (the girl that wanted the filet off the bill isn’t even worth talking about!)

it’s part of the game though. some customers overtip, some undertip. let’s hope the owner, who probably had a bill in the excess of $1,000, threw the server $50 for the misunderstanding and make the night a little more bearable.

I am not surprised by the witnessed exchange and the dialog that ensued. It does seem like some kind of orchestrated plan. How ignorant could they all be to A.have everyone be that late B. not offer their apologies to the staff for their lateness and C.to complain about everything while taking up so much valuable time and space. I could bet that even if they had no ‘complaints’ the tip would have been just as lousy. It smells like a plan to me-I mean,couldn’t someone have called ahead, if they were all such gourmands and used to dining in fine places,how dare the woman complain after her meal was finished and how dare they all be complacent in the incredibly rude behavior of those few.

Why does “well-dressed” and “well-spoken” and in med school mean they are moneyed. (OK, if the cars were expensive I will buy it.

But the converse is that poor people are poorly dressed, poorly spoken and cannot go to med school.

Some med school students are *not* rich.

I really think people who are seeing this as pre-planned are making logical leaps.

I think they were pissed about the keys, and then they responded.

I also think that if you hold the table, you lose any chance to complain about them coming in late.

But I was not the waitress who was stiffed.

What did not realize until I read the thread — and this really bothered me — was that the pretty clearly asked for separate checks, thinking that would avoid the group gratuity. That’s interesting and cheesy.

I have never been to a restaurant where I have had valet parking — for various reasons — but I would be annoyed if someone brought me my keys. It wouldn’t keep me from tipping properly, but I would not go back.

Although I agree that the med student “dung-eaters” were totally off the wall, I have to say that front of house should have had this well in hand.

The valet leaving before the guests were finished can’t be the first time this has happened. What’s wrong with the server coming to a member of the party and asking what name should be used for the basket of keys at the coat check? A quiet question would solve the problem.

The tip issue is a sad case where the poor server was the unhappy recipient of the “dung eaters” bad manners and lack of compassion.

Yeah, I’ve had first hand experience with that attitude. The non-profit I worked for several years ago did a fundraiser at Woolferts Roost, and I still to this day remember the biggest a.. was this pompous med student. He was the son of one of the most prominent specialists in this area and was going into his father’s practice. He treated everyone like a servant. No kidding. I was an administrator no less!

Reading this post of Steve’s made me instantly think of that schmuck, and so I am not surprised by that attitude at all.

I’m missing the math on this one. 14 people, each with a bill of about $60 is $840. If the average tip, as stated in the post, is 7%….wouldn’t the waitress have cleared $60 (which is still horrible? If she only cleared the $20, that’s a 2% tip.

The diners ate at a variety of price levels. $60 was not average. Some people ate two appetizers and one drink and left $3 on a $22 check, which is 13 percent and thus raised the average, while others had filets and $60 checks and left 1 percent. I’m sorry if the math doesn’t comport to what you expect. What I can say is the waitress said she averaged 7 percent and received a total of about $20; I know for a fact that I saw, on the computer screen as the bartender settled the tabs, a $59.20 check settled with three $20 bills, the change going to the waitress as the tip, and at least one check with no tip at all.

Awful tale, of I hope, ignorance. For perspective though, I recall this tale. My friend’s new girlfriend, a waitress by trade, was a restaurant tipping monster. Every meal ended with a bullying tirade about tipping the waitstaff generously, and why everyone should do so. On an auto trip while stopping for gas, a young gentleman checked the oil in her Honda. A quart was needed and he scrambled about under the hood on that hot summer day to politely complete the service. He closed the hood, the bill was paid and she began to drive away. I jerked forward from the back seat and reminded her to tip the kid. She laughed and said that she never tipped gas stand attendants and drove off briskly.

As several have pointed out, it probably wouldn’t hurt to fine tune the way the valet handles this kind of situation in the future. #48′s suggestion sounds spot on.
Yet it cracks me up how this polite, well-spoken young diner was so brutally and deeply insulted to the very core of his soul, BUT, gee whiz, a discount will makes things ok. How cheaply he values his outrage! If I felt that horribly insulted, it wouldn’t be taken out on the wait staff; I just wouldn’t return. What a bunch of phonies. Not a crowd I would want to hang with.

It’s a valet. What is emabarrasing about having a valet hand over your keys during service. Absurd. If you are prepared to ask for a discount, be prepared to be turned down, even at the table. I think he was more embarrased that people he was dining with heard he was looking to skate somehow. People with feelings of entitlement suck!!!!

I agree that the valet situation needs fine tuning. But oh my goodness I can not believe that grown adults feel the need to behave so badly in retaliation for a perceived slight. The behavior of the diners in response to the situation was appalling.

There is no excuse for the behavior of the diners. As polite as they may have been in discussing the matter, their handling of it was quite rude and totally inexcusable.

On a separate note: They may very well come from moneyed backgrounds, but if they truly are medical students, based on the geography, they are most likely studying at Albany Med, one of the most expensive schools in the country and costing upwards of $70K/year, meaning that unless they are super wealthy, they most likely do not have big dining budgets (at least not all 14). Of course, that doesn’t absolve them of their behavior – if they are going to play, they need to pay. I am embarrassed that they are studying to enter my profession.

My jaw literally dropped when I read this. I can’t believe that something as minor as having your keys delivered to the table was cause for any reaction whatsoever, let alone this incredibly overly dramatic one! I wonder if any of these tools read Steve’s blog and if so, would they have the balls to respond?

This was difficult for me to read as as an AMC alumni. I worked my way through medical school as a waitress (met my husband who was someone on the other side of the table!) and would like to say that not all medical students come from privileged backgrounds. I paid for most my books and spending money by waiting tables. That being said, as a physician I feel one should always rise above and take the high road. Even if they thought it was inappropriate for the valet to do what he did, it was not so egregious as to demand a discount. They will soon learn what it’s like to be out in the real world of health care.
Deal with it!!

Ah, the pedant williepitt chimes in on grammar. We can always count on one of his priggish and tiresome lessons in the King’s English. Okay, we get it–you’re educated. How about wearing your learning lightly?

I agree with Seaweed—as obnoxious as these people were, this group is not a vigilante posse vested with powers to bring poor tippers and other restaurant schmucks to justice.

What a freakin’ horror story!!! What is it about going out to a restaurant that turns people into raging sociopaths? I’ve encountered many A.H.’s like this myself over the years, though never anyone quite this despicable. I’ve often (jokingly) said that no one should be allowed to dine out in a restaurant until they’ve worked in one and experienced life from the other side. I’m overjoyed that management did not bow down to these creeps, and I REALLY hope that someone forwards this blog link to the jerks so they can get a good, hard look at themselves. Disgusting.

I used to tend bar at an establishment that catered to Med, Law and pharmacy students. The entire staff agreed that the Pharmacy and Med school students seemed to be the most obnoxious and worst tipping customers. The Law kids defintiely seemed to drink more and cause more trouble, but at least they tipped well and were generally respectful. They used to just get a little rowdy after that 3rd Jaeger Bomb.
One of the major reasons I left was being treated like crap by little nerds I wanted to break in half. They talked to us like we were the help and beneath them.
Since many of the Med and Pharmacy students were Indian and Asian, the staff assumed some of the tipping deficiencies are cultural.

I have waited tables at a high-end establishment for nearly nine years, and sadly this sort of thing happens more often than you would think.

Tipping someone poorly because you got in an argument with the owner over the valet service is inexcusable. Customers think they are doing us a favor- like we’re going to learn a lesson or something. Quality of food is the kitchen’s obligations. Service is the waitress/waiter’s responsibility. I would prefer a customer to tell me politely that they are not satisfied with their meal, and I will have the kitchen correct the mistake.

With a party that large most restaurants add the gratuity, and I am surprised this restaurant did not follow this practice. Hopefully, in the future they will, in order to avoid unfortunate situations like this.

P.S. If you have dinner reservations for 14- stop at a damn ATM and bring cash. Separate checks are preposterous and inconsiderate. Like we have time to sit and print out separate checks for you.

Isn’t it standard to hold a reservation only about 15 minutes beyond its time? And you can be sure this discussion will find its way back to the group and those who know who they are. Their misfortune to be misbehaving in front of a newspaperman!

As a past service industry worker and just as a decent human being this post has made me so furious I can hardly see straight. If I were the owner of said restaurant I would bar every last one of them.

FOURTEEN separate checks?! Forty-five minutes late?! What the hell is wrong with people?!?!?

First of all, forget these people. You’re not going to blacklist them or call them out, you don’t do this. Being a server, i have to say this happens so infrequently, you take the 1000 great tables with the once-in-a-blue-moon downer table. This should not be happening enough that you need to set procedures. It’s rare & you deal with it. A G.M. worth their salt should be able to handle this with flair.

If you did allow separate checks, why didn’t you throw an automatic gratuity on it? I would have said it was policy on large checks or splitting of checks higher than two.

Regarding Valet; If you are charging for valet service you absolutely have that car running, with the car door opened, when that customer decides they want to leave. Especially if you are charging for valet, the customer has the right to expect you to be there for him when he leaves. Even If you don’t charge, If your a four star restaurant, you have someone there for when that guest decides to split. As a manager, if one party is holding up the valet guy and you want to let him go home, fine; but you, the bartender, coat check, someone, better take the valet’s place when the customer is leaving. I do not think it’s ok for a restuarant to just leave keys up front for the party. If you (the restuarant) park it, You’re there when they decide to leave.

Most restaurants have a policy that a party of more than 6 has an %18 gratuity added to the bill – this establishment should consider this practice. It is usually printed right on the menus – perhaps adding no seperate bills for parties of 5 or more would be needed as well. Such a shame – that is sometimes how the rich stay rich, by not paying their fair share.